4/23/25 AEW: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight 15:46
ML: The Young Bucks decided to earn their paychecks by actually trying rather than having purposely boring matches as they had admitted to during last year's heel run. This was classic Bucks action and shenanigans, the most reminiscent of their PWG heyday that we've seen in a long time. It's not going to change anyone's mind about them as a whole, but if you liked them up through 2023, you will like this match. Bailey and Knight are great athletes that were largely just plugged into the Bucks formula. They were able to mirror the Bucks and play off them, but mostly this was a Bucks showcase where having good junior style opponents just made the match better without actually making it much different. There were lots of multi-man spots, with Bailey and Knight already showing nice chemistry and working well as a unit. This got pretty wild down the stretch, including Bucks doing a doomsday device off the barricade and catching Bailey's triangle moonsault then doing a Meltzer driver off the barricade. The finish was annoying, as Ricochet interfered, stopping Knight's swandive move, and leading to the Bucks winning with the EVP trigger. ***1/4

11/2/11 Triple Tails, Battlarts Rules: Munenori Sawa vs. Kana 15:07
ML: Amazing intergender match that was well above the usual Battlarts level of believability. It's more loosely defined wannabe shooting than a lot of RINGS and PWFG, but at the same time, the striking is much more believable than a lot of that stuff. The footwork isn't quite there, but it exists, and when you combined that with some early hesitation and more thoughtful attacks, and serious brutality throughout, you've not only finally got a woman in a U-Style match, you have one who has already surpassed a lot of those guys in their own style. This wasn't Kana's first shoot style match, as she was on the Battlarts Queen Bee women's shoot shows, and has wrestled intergender shoot style on a couple of her previous shows, it's just a big step up from what she did previously in both quality and realism. This was still mostly toe to toe, with some of the most realistic kicking and slapping you'll see in a wrestling match, but they had runs and flurries, and it never felt like they weren't trying to kill each other. There's still a little of the staring at each other taking turns letting the opponent hit them, but instead of it just being lazy wrestling, it's largely there to tell the story of Sawa disrespecting Kana, still taking her lightly. In the later stages, they tried to add drama by having Sawa let her attack with strikes, then put her in her place with big shots, with a fading Kana slowing down and having less impact after each time he puts her down, but refusing to give up on herself. Sawa got so cocky he tried to use a flying knee when she was getting up, but Kana avoided, and almost beat him with a Kimura off his German suplex. Kengo Mashimo apparently didn't get the memo last time, treating their 9/24/11 Kana Pro match as an exhibition where he toyed with Kana, and just kind of clowned her. Sawa instead tried to have a great match, and allowed Kana to compete with him, even if begrudgingly and disdainfully, in story. Kana was always the underdog, and a lot of times Sawa would beat her essentially at her own game if he wasn't dictating from the start, but Kana was always in there with a chance even if she lost segment after segment. Sawa toyed with Kana a little, but in the story sense so she could earn his respect and make him come at her harder. People always talk about Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikeda when they talk about the greats of Battlarts, and that's understandable to an extent because they were there from the beginning, but Sawa is a younger, faster, more athletic worker who can go harder, isn't a clone, and doesn't sacrifice the mental for the physical. Sawa was the 1st of these Battlarts guys to really lay into Kana, as Yuki Ishikawa took it easy on her in the very good 1/10/11 tag with Carlos Amano against Kana & Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Sawa's impact made for a much more serious and intense match because both were working hard and putting everything they have into it. Intergender matches aren't exactly known for their intensity, but this was really fire by any standard. It was incredibly aggressive stuff, with great brutality. The fight just kept escalating until Kana's body gave out on her. At least for Kana, it was kill or be killed. The difference was when it went to the ground, Sawa was almost always on the ascendancy. Kana was still fighting from underneath the whole way, in part due to having less size and power, but also because her left arm was injured before she could rope escape Sawa's submission. There was a great spot where Kana tried an arm bar out of mount, but lost control of the arm, and Sawa was instead able to go into his own arm bar. This injured the other (right) arm, which was fine since shoot wrestling is about being opportunistic rather than forcing 1 thing as if it's going to magically shut the opponent down. This match really flew by even though there's a limited number of different things they actually did. The stiffness and intensity made it believable enough that you needed to see what was going to happen next, even if it might not be that much different than what happened before. They did everything with conviction, and there was a lot of chaining holds on the mat when they weren't blasting away landing wicked shots on their feet. This was a fast paced match of a sort, in that they fought with urgency, Kana especially went out of her way to pounce on openings and not leaving any gaps, with Sawa sometimes preferring to goad Kana. This had very little in the way of non shoot style moves, but Sawa actually won with the octopus after basically knocking Kana out with a couple closed fist punches. ****1/2

11/17/24 NJPW/Stardom IWGP Women's Title: Mayu Iwatani vs. Momo Watanabe 24:13
ML: These two have a lot of talent, but constructed the match in such a dull formulaic manner that didn't capitalize on much of it. They basically just took turns doing the things they always do. There were good to great moves throughout from Mayu, and in the second half from Momo, but you basically could have shuffled it up and still wound up with the same match because nothing really lead to or amounted to anything. This match should have had a ton of intensity and aggression, but there was no instance where it felt like they were trying to beat their opponent to the spot or the move or anything that would make you feel like they were working to counteract what the opponent was trying. There was no believable resistance to one another, so the match felt very complacent due to the performative nature of how they went about things. It wasn't more overly cooperative than the next match in terms of their stunts, but you knew who was going when, and that resulted in a total lack of urgency, danger, and surprise even though they worked really hard at what they were trying to do. Despite a slow early portion, they ultimately did a lot and accomplished exactly what they set out to, but it didn't feel organic or improvised. There was a lot of bad acting, as whoever was on the receiving end of the current run pretended they could only move at 1/10th speed then would go back to moving at full speed so their offense looked good, though ultimately the pace was still higher than most of the other matches that do a lot of silly overdramatic selling to try to make it "epic". The physicality was certainly impressive, but the only drama here was manufactured, as the match was just doing more things then overdoing the acting to fill the time between doing more things. It just felt like you could see it all coming because they weren't countering or telling a story or trying to get any mileage out of anything they did beyond with the drama class hokem. They are certainly gifted athletes who hit hard and do moves that look impressive. They never drew me into the match though. It was basically like an overdone New Japan Will Ospreay match where you sit there thinking this still looks good like all the other times I saw it, but I know it's not going to amount to anything, and the match is going to continue down the familiar path, impressive on a level but empty and predictable on another. I hoped we might see more of the old Momo when she came out wearing white, but after a good opening, it quickly devolved into the usual outside interference from HATE that only detracts from the seriousness and believability of the match. Watanabe was very stiff, but basically almost all the good offense was coming from Mayu for a long time, and the match was Mayu doing athletic moves and Momo doing beatdown without many sequences or much interplay. Eventually, Momo wanting to fight on the outside cost her, as Mayu got her with the apron Dragon suplex. The offense picked up from here, but the pace arguably declined because they did all the temporarily incapacited until it was time for the next move stuff. Lots of big kicks throughout, and lots of suplexes in the 2nd half. Not a great deal of variety, but a lot more of the same. Iwatani had it won with her moonsault, but HATE took out the ref. Momo could have decapitated Mayu with the bat, but found some honor, and decided to try to beat her fairly with more kicks. I guess this was tonight's excuse for her being the perpetual bridesmaid. A big finish spam followed until Iwatani won with her Dragon suplex. ***

11/17/24 NJPW/Stardom: Maika & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. El Desperado & Starlight Kid 21:23
ML: This started great, but wound up being a lot more action packed highspots and a lot less thoughful grappling than I was hoping for. Even ZSJ vs. Desperado ultimately didn't wind up being as technically oriented as expected, as they went more for their suplexes and drivers as the match progressed, and even their submissions were one off high spots rather than maneuvered into through grappling. That was even more unfortunate because Desperado reached a much higher level in his technical wrestling right from the outset due to Zack being so much more gifted than Desperado's typical opponents, which allowed Desperado to speed things up considerably, and show much faster, more fluid movement on the mat. They quickly abandoned this though, and did more of a popcorn style joshi workrate match. Desperado and Starlight look, feel, and wrestle like a team. Unfortunately, Maika isn't compatible with the other 3 stylistically, and was woefully outclassed against competition at this high skill level. Maika could do her moves fine, but wrestling is about how you are able to interact with the opponent. You could almost hear the gears churning just from trying to be in the right place at the right time when anything was asked of her. They worked over Maika's knee, almost as if to give her a reason to move poorly. but this was scrapped once she tagged out. Starlight was impressive when she didn't need much help, but there wasn't much interaction between the men and women beyond double teaming, so she was less impressive than the men due to the opposition. She did stand out because the style they wound up working rewards flash and spectacle, and that's an area where she exceeds the guys. Despite the match involving 3 strong technical wrestlers, mostly what Starlight got to do here was showcase her athleticism. Starlight was, of course, pinned by Maika after 2 Michinoku drivers. The match didn't drag, and definitely had some impressive moments. ***

6/24/19 DDT KO-D Six Man Tag Title: Meiko Satomura & Chihiro Hashimoto & DASH Chisako vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ino 19:12
ML: Senjo was 2-0-1 in the singles match series they had between the members of this match earlier in the night, so it was obvious that they were going to lose the titles here, but this was a very good trade-off for them. The singles series could have meant we got a shorter sprint here since everyone was already worn down, but instead they did a match that was 4 minutes longer than their 3/21/19 match, and just added a lot of slow filler offense from the DDT team in the 1st half. Satomura and Takeshita did most of the work in the singles matches, as their match was as long as the other two combined, so they were far less involved here then they might otherwise have been. All these factors resulted in tonight's title match being a big step down from the previous Senjo vs. DDT 6 person. The DDT team's offense being was so pedestrian didn't help matters either. Of course, the basic offense could have worked if they stuck to the style of Satomura vs. Takeshita, rather than mix joshi workrate with rudimentary beat down. I wish they would have left the athletic Akito in the match and swapped out strongman Ino, as his deliberate 1950s style isn't suited to this opposition. Katsumata's body slams weren't adding anything to what Ino was already doing. He had his moments in the later stages when things were fast and energetic, but was dull during the slower portions. The Senjo girls were good and fun as always though. There were moments where DASH and Hashimoto showed they would have been an amazing team if Senjo only had enough useful wrestlers that they didn't need to be opponents all the time. DASH added some excitement when she could, but she was largely they just the whipping girl. She technically got more offense and then her teammates, but only by virtue of wrestling 2/3 of the match. This allowed for some more energetic bursts from Satomura and Hashimoto in the later stages. The brief Satomura vs. Ino was good because she was able to go toe to toe with him, and was fired up. The 2nd half was entertaining since everyone got moving, and it was surprising seeing Satomura actually eat the pin from Takeshita's German suplex. Again, I'm left with the feeling that the Senjo wrestlers are the three best in the match, and Takeshita (who obviously is way better now than he was than) was the only DDT guy I had any real interest in seeing more of. ***

6/24/19 DDT: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Meiko Satomura 20:00
ML: This was entirely a Satomura style match, focusing on realism over spectacle. She broke her usual formula here, and did a much more believable match. They could have done a more exciting match, but this was much more interesting from start to finish because everything they did (until the final few minutes) had some reason for being there, and they weren't giving the impression that they were just letting each other do whatever they wanted. This had a basic technical start and built up slowly. It was compelling because Satomura brought some semblance of realism, thought, and hesitation to it, which made even the throwaway stuff seem useful enough and have its place. This didn't just feel like a bunch of cooperation. There was set up and struggle involved, and a sense of danger to engaging. Satomura kept trying to create openings, and unloaded when she could but Takeshita seemed to be holding back somewhat on his strikes. Takeshita took over, injuring Satomura's back slamming it into the ring apron after her baseball slide failed, then manhandling her with a couple big backbreakers. I'm not sure if Takeshita always believed in what he was doing, but he stuck to the plot of attacking the back regardless, forcing Satomura to fight her way out of holds and claw her way back with kicks. Satomura kind of had to stick to her hard-hitting because Takeshita made her pay anytime she tried to do anything that involved running or jumping. It's unfortunate that they weren't confident enough in what they were doing to see it through. The best spot of the match, Satomura Death Valley bombing Takeshita off the apron through a table was a complete misstep, as Takeshita suddenly introducing a table into a kick and submission match was completely out of left field. The match had been really compelling up to this point, but became really goofy as they switched to stuff to do mode with Satomura hitting two more Death Valley bombs in the ring. Instead of going for the pin, she inexplicably went for yet another one, only to have Takeshita counter with his blue thunder bomb. They were running out of time, so they finished with a frantic move spam to get in the rest of the offense they had reasonably held back on for 95% of the match. The ending would have fit another match, and could have been a good one also, but they needed to stick to the toned down, realistic style throughout here to keep things logical and cohesive. The finishing segment was exciting, but it was so jolting after what we'd seen before. This was one of the most realistic Satomura performances until the final minutes, which was surprising and impressive given intergender matches are never at the top of anyone's list for believability. ***1/2

1/10/11 Kana Pro, KO Give Up Only Match: Carlos Amano & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Kana & Yoshiaki Fujiwara 22:28
ML: A very technical, grappling oriented Battlarts match. Kana is the standout with her aggressive style, offering a great combination of speed and precision. This match exemplifies everything that makes her great including taking it seriously, going all out, and hitting really hard. It's a shame there was never any consistent shoot style league for her because this is really where she's at her best and most intense, and she could have gone a lot further with her matwork, which is excellent here, if she had more opponents that actually cared about such things. Amano can exceed Kana's speed, and has some great leg locks and ground switches. She's sometimes incredibly impressive, with the best ground sequences being between her and Kana because of how fast the movement is. Even in this style, Amano isn't always serious though, and does the most things that don't exactly belong such as running, jumping, and clowning at points. Ishikawa is good, but his strongest aspect normally is his brutality, and going against an ancient man and a small woman isn't really the place for that. Taking on Kana lets him show his best stuff on the mat though, and he allows her to just savage him with blistering kicks and open hands. Their segments definitely steal the show with a combination of intricate mat work and aggressive striking, at least from Kana. Fujiwara gives a better performance than I've seen from him in a long, long time. He is lumbering with his shot knee, but he works a lot harder, and most of the time a lot more seriously than he has in recent years. Even though he's a lot slower than everyone else, and has less offensive options, he's smart enough to get around enough of his limitations that it still mostly works. The pairing with Fujiwara and Amano is the biggest issue because Amano tries to troll him, and eventually Fujiwara's pervish instincts come forth when he decides to kiss her rather than give her his goofy headbutt. Still, this is 95% high quality shoot wrestling, with occasional show wrestling shenanigans. Fujiwara is in too much early, but Kana takes the entire stretch run, much of which is her absolutely going to town on Ishikawa with huge shots. The finish where Kana rolls through his wakigatame, but Ishikawa takes her out with a chickenwing facelock was rather random, but this is the style where those kind of finishes work best. It's a little dry at points because they usually aren't going for flash even by shoot style standards, and a little goofy at points since Amano & Fujiwara's character work doesn't necessarily belong in this setting, but overall, this definitely gives both intergender matches, and wrestling in general a good name. ***3/4

4/16/25 AEW Owen Hart Foundation 2025 Men's Tournament Semifinal: Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita 21:43
ML: Their 3/3/24 match was much better because Takeshita was leading for the most part. With him in charge of setting Ospreay up, it felt less like every other Ospreay match, even if the moves used in both were similar. The pacing was also much better, and there was a lot more interplay. The setups in general just felt a lot more rewarding. This match was Ospreay reverting to his usual formula, and when left to his devices, everything is just for the sake of doing it. This match was so cookie cutter, and almost exactly equal to the sum of its parts. Hardly anything built momentum or elevated the offense beyond whatever excitement you garnered from seeing them perform each spot. Obviously, they have a lot of skill and talent, and do many cool things if you don't mind them being the same as you've seen for the last year plus, but they didn't craft something that accentuated any of it in any way. They just did stuff, or more precisely Ospreay just did stuff. There was no urgency or conviction to anything they were doing in the early portion, just easing into things with rest holds essentially that were obviously padding time so this could be called "epic". This actually wasn't even that long, it just dragged because you knew so much was meaningless, and only the late stage fireworks really counted at the end of the day. They continued just going through the motions even after the first commercial break, trying to give us hope that they were building up to something, but anyone who has seen Ospreay knows better. Ospreay soon started doing all the same moves he does every week, and of course these were well performed, but nothing seemed organic in any way, or to be able to get beyond just setting each other up for the very predictable spectacle. There was no sense of liveliness, no feeling of either trying to win, just the program being executed with cool precision. The Oscutter on the ramp was the first thing that happened that felt a bit different, and it was pretty thumping, but it's still only a slight variation from doing it on the ring apron like he usually does. This was at least a variation on one of his big match moves. Ospreay finally fired himself up and picked up the pace, hitting a nice sky twister press. While Takeshita did a couple good throws, and always catches the opponent well, we were getting to the halfway point of the match, and it felt like Takeshita had yet to be allowed to really do anything to put his stamp on the match. Plenty of opponents could have screwed things up for Ospreay with their ineptitude, but Ospreay was still just doing the same exact thing he would do with literally any opponent, just to better results because Takeshita is a superior base. They finally did a sequence when Takeshita countered the stormbreaker, only to go right to a cheesy lengthy double sell when Ospreay kicked out. In case anyone was getting their hopes up that sequences and actually developing something together this would continue, they immediately shifted to striking. I liked Takeshita countering the Oscutter with his big elbow, but that came later on. Still, this is just the generic [insert relevant counter for the Oscutter] spot we see every match, so Takeshita was still just being plugged into the Ospreay formula. The most exciting sequence had them using their favorite moves on each other, momentarily moving them outside their comfort zone. This woke Tony Schiavone up, and prompted him to question whether we were seeing the best match ever on Dynamite. Somewhere outside of Reno, Nevada, Steve Austin was heard screaming, "Can you give me a hell no?" Another opponent's variation spot saw Ospreay land on his feet for Takeshita using a lariat with both standing on the top turnbuckle, since Takeshita doesn't use the avalanche Frankensteiner Ospreay normally counters. Takeshita then kicked out of the hidden blade, and things became much more frantic and exciting, as we had hit the finishing sequence. The last few minutes were really good, but it felt like too little too late after such an uninspired first half, and only inconsistent bursts of somewhat inspired samey action. The match would have been much improved if they just eliminated the entire portion up through the commercial break and then put some real passion into what was left. If you never saw these guys wrestle before, this was surely a very good match, but it felt like the 12th match in the series where most ideas had been used up long ago rather than their 2nd singles match. I wanted to be inspired by it, but it felt shockingly stale. The better opponents usually carry Ospreay so we get something beyond his empty forms. There were certainly some good fireworks in the 2nd half, but unfortunately the majority didn't pop like they could have this time. ***

4/11/25 PWA Heavyweight Title Last Wrestler Standing: Jessica Troy vs. CHEVS 40:13.
ML: Troy & CHEVS are former partners who had almost a 2 year run with the PWWA tag titles from 2015-2017 when CHEVS still went by Charli Evans. This felt like a real grudge match, but was still a strong technical wrestling match despite the blood and spectacle. They wrestled with urgency and aggression to actually hurt their opponent (and beat them when they had inflicted enough punishment) even though this was an absolute marathon at 40+ minutes. They did a good job of teasing spots and building this up. It was all very well performed as you'd expect from these two, fundamentally and technically sound stuff, not the cosplaying at wrestling we get from most modern joshi. They leaned into the no rules stuff at times, but that didn't force them to just abandon the actual wrestling like it usually does, and they made the weapons actually seem dangerous and important to counter or avoid rather than like harmless toys to jump around in like we see in every silly AEW cartoon brawl. While this wasn't dragged out, there were perhaps too many things going on here in order to fill all that time. The biggest issue was their male seconds, North Shore Wrestling and The Dropouts, would randomly become involved, and a tag match would essentially break out to give the women a breather. There was a cool spot early where Troy pulled the ring apron up and trapped CHEVS in it when she tried a baseball slide. They treated the chair like a dangerous weapon, doing their best to prevent their opponent from using it and to avoid crashing into it. Troy worked the left arm while CHEVS worked the left knee. CHEVS tried to use Troy's Colosseum sword on her with a lot more conviction than we ever saw in 5 miserable decades of enduring Tiger Jeet Singh, and Troy used it to cut CHEVS forehead once she got it away from her. Troy eventually hit her meteora off the stage, but the action began to stagnate after Troy stooped to using the sword, as she became conflicted and couldn't believe what she had done. The outside interference was really disruptive to the match they were trying to build, which already had several stories of their own going on between the brawling and the appendage attacks. They did a good job of making their stalling play into the story of the match, and still worked fast when they did something, but the action would have been tighter and more focused at 30 minutes. CHEVS did a nice rope hanging swinging neckbreaker onto a chair, but the appendage work kind of got lost amongst the chair spots. At the same time, both were necessary to keep this interesting for this amount of time. I really liked the match up until the finish, which was pretty terrible. The Dropouts had defended Troy all match, but they seemed to just disappear, and some unknown guy speared Troy and stood around while CHEVS hit her burning lariat and got the 10 count to take the title. It may not have purely been a screwjob in the eyes of Madison Eagles, but to leave us with this after were invested 40 minutes, and the actual 2 performers had gone above and beyond to pull it off so well, was pretty embarrassing. This actually held my attention for 40 minutes without me wanting to endlessly fast forward through a bunch of posing, naps, and kindergarten level acting, which is something that basically never happens in a match this length in the 2020's, so for me that overrides some of the muddled nature of the action and the pitiful finish. It's certainly imperfect, but far less cornball and overdramatic than long matches tend to be, and doesn't feel like the usual box checking and long just for the sake of it kind of nonsense. The technique and intensity held up, and the emotion didn't ring false. ****

10/7/22 PWA Colosseum Tournament 2022 First Round Match: Robbie Eagles vs. Charli Evans 21:48
ML: I normally don't like intergender matches, but the fact this wasn't presented as such, and was just two talented wrestlers telling their own story was one of the reasons it actually worked. In the end, people hopefully want high quality wrestling matches, and wrestling is too dark ages to actually adopt weight classes and pretend to be a real sport. Thus, when we eliminate the performers leaning into the stereotypes and tropes, and instead see them taking a fresh direction, we instead have another match where nobody cares about the weight difference that's no more or less believable than what we usually get. Evans is a hard worker and a hard hitter who moves well and executes precisely. She's one of the better active wrestlers, and her stuff holds up against the skill of Eagles the way the slop of undersized cosplayers like Orange Cassidy and Jungle Jackass never would. If we want to talk optics, that's yet another reason Claudio Castagnoli and PAC should be the stars of the Death Riders and Jon Moxley should be the jobber, but to me, whether your offense is impactful is the much more important aspect of an openweight contest than the gender of the competitors. You never think Evans offense here is feeble or that she's outclassed in any way against this opponent, who happens to also be a top flight performer (unlike the duo who claims to be Top Flight who are passable enough but still interchangeable with 300 other guys that do the same cooperative athletic exhibitions). You instead wish most of the stuff Eagles was doing in NJPW was half as lively and entertaining. Eagles doesn't hold back on the speed or the impact because he doesn't have to. What makes this match really stand out is that it's a story match, but the story has to do with Evans knee rather than her sex. Replacing the story others keep telling with the one you want to tell helps distract people from what they've been conditioned to. It also shows a great deal of well earned confidence in Evans to put her in the position of essentially being a double underdog, having to overcome both preconceived notions as well as the knee injury she quickly suffers when she stops Eagles avalanche Frankensteiner, but he pushes her off the top to the floor. Obviously, Eagles instead getting injured to even the odds would have been the conventional path to follow, the excuse for Evans to not just get overwhelmed by the former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. What they actually did additionally played into Eagles strength because the main thing that separates him from the typical acrobat is he can also do precision kicks and limb work to break the opponent down to set his flying up. I really liked Evans selling here because she tried to still move almost as fast while showing some awkwardness in her stride and the pain on her face. She showed good variety with her selling, and it never felt like simply stalling the way it does 99% of the time in the modern style that has largely eliminated everything beyond high spots and selling plus playing to the crowd in between. Evans got her knee up for Eagles' 450 splash, but that further injured her as well. Evans isn't a natural babyface, but she played the underdog well and was easy to get behind, showing a lot of heart, even fighting off 1 knee when she had to. When she'd get herself back into the match, Eagles would just chop her right back down with another bruising kick. There was nice attention to detail here, such as Evans trying to finish with the ankle lock on the ground to avoid using her knee, but realizing her only chance to convert was to force herself to stand. Evans had more and more trouble getting back to her feet each time, but she portrayed this believably, moving stiffly rather than just taking her time to pad out the runtime. This was not only an excellent match, but an all-time great intergender match where the woman wasn't just along for the ride, but it wasn't too ridiculous in her favor either. If anything, Eagles could have registered Evans blows better so she seemed like she was doing damage when she landed, but he gave her a proper, serious match at the minimum. This wasn't the usual 50/50 match. Evans was quickly overmatched, but I thought that worked here because she was overmatched due to her knee, and the match they did was all about her heart and willpower. There's an argument against mixed matches, but to me that's a separate argument. If we accept that promotions are going to run them, I'd suggest this is a good model, but of course new and different takes are what keeps wrestling interesting. Eagles finally destroyed the knee enough to hit the 450 splash to the knee into the Ron Miller special. Evans used her last bit of fight to make it 3/4 of the way to the ropes, but once Eagles pulled her back, she finally conceded defeat and tapped. An excellent story match with top notch performances from both. ****

3/21/19 DDT KO-D Six Man Tag Title: Konosuke Takeshita & Akito & Yuki Ino vs. Chihiro Hashimoto & Meiko Satomura & DASH Chisako 15:34
ML: The Senjo top 3 are well positioned to take on men. Satomura has the credible hard hitting style, Hashimoto has the size and athletic background, and DASH is probably twice their speed and can create an in match rivalry with anyone as well as playing a great underdog. As with Mayumi Ozaki and Dynamite Kansai, it's clearly a great team, but just as clearly one that can never happened in their own promotion because that leaves them no one of their skill and statute to wrestle. They were very motivated to try to get over in DDT, as the underdog outsiders taking on the bigger stronger guys in a hostile environment. The Senjo women upped their game, while the DDT guys largely just did their thing without holding back. There was some excellent fast action, but what held this back is it was really only a rivalry from one side. DASH predictably took most of the beating, showed the most interplay with the opponents, had the most impressive sequences, and generally stole the show with her speed and attitude despite the match being set up for her more conventional and predictable teammates to be the stars. Hashimoto & Satomura did their thing and were predictably good. Hashimoto lost the most going against this opposition because she's not imposing against 6'2" Takeshita or 264 pound Ino, but if she can't toss them around like a 100 pound girl, they are at least suited to holding up to her offense and pushing back. This was largely a showcase for the women, who you felt would lose given how much offense they were given. All the DDT guys put them over well, but none of them stood out to the same level as the women did. Takeshita & Akito showed nice athleticism, facilitating well. Ino was the least impressive. His strong man stuff isn't as dynamic and explosive as what the opposition was doing, and is generally less impressive against opponents he can obviously easily overpower, especially since he was the only one easing up here. His toned down style can bring more realism, but really requires others to be on the same page, and this was the sort of match that otherwise wasn't going to be particularly believable by design. This match was much more based on pace and explosion. It was high speed and high activity joshi workrate style match designed to put the women over in every way. Hashimoto pinned Ino with the Albright after Satomura stunned him with an axe kick to take the titles. This wasn't the most believable match if you purely care about physicality, but if that were the case, you wouldn't be watching wrestling in 2019. ***1/2

6/19/24 ChocoPro: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Mei Suruga 15:03
ML: This was the high speed Yoneyama that actually cares rather than comedy wrestler, even though she was wearing her clown suit. Yoneyama may not apply herself often these days, but she wrestles at a much higher level of technical competency than anyone who normally appears in this league, and was able to carry Mei to a back and forth counter oriented match that was a lot more dramatic and dynamic than what we normally see in ChocoPro. It was a good sign that they were countering right away, with Yoneyama thwarting Suruga's silly middle rope arm drag and actually developing the early portion by playing off what they like to do, rather than goofing around. This was a longer match by Suruga's standards, so they did more matwork after the hot opening before speeding things up considerably in the 2nd half. There was a little bit of lightheartedness in the 1st half, but it didn't detract from the idea that victory was meaningful. There ultimately weren't a lot of big moves, but the flash pins with her great bridges are what Suruga does well, and a style Yoneyama can still go hard in without killing herself. This was mostly Yoneyama working to the higher level she once reached with ease consistently, and understanding what Suruga can do well. ***

8/31/24 ChocoPro Super Asia Title: Emi Sakura vs. Mei Suruga 15:01
ML: This is the biggest match in the promotion, teacher vs. student, on their only Korakuen Hall show of the year. It was also the passing of the guard. It has its issues, but it kind of gets there on effort alone. Suruga was also showing some different stuff here rather than just doing her routine. This started off with a lock up that's not quite a test of strength, but that's meant to present a struggle, but then went right to Suruga jumping on the middle rope to jump off the middle rope and do nothing, to run across the ring holding hands and jump on the middle again on the other side. Rather than finally getting around to doing her arm drag, Mei jumped on the top rope and did a Shinzaki rope walk before finally doing the arm drag. At least this was a little different than the usual Suruga nonsense opening, but starting with such implausible cooperative stuff rather than at least hurting the opponent to work up to it always makes it difficult to get into the start of her matches. Suruga began working the right knee, and Baliyan Akki said, "Emi Sakura has stopped bending 15 years ago." The other spot that was completely ridiculous was after Sakura shook Mei to the floor to stop her sunset flip powerbomb, Mei got back up and stood on the ring post with Sakura still just standing on the middle rope staring at her rather than pushing her right back off again because that would kill her. Mei eventually stood straight up on it and grabbed Emi by the hair then finally threw some feeble punches to position Emi so she could jump on her back with a footstomp then jump off for whatever reason. I mean, this was different, and kind of cool as a move, but the setup was endless and totally implausible. After this, the match got going with a lot of mirror spots or variations of the opponent's moves. The pace continued to quicken to a point as they exchanged flash pin attempts because Sakura can only do brief bursts these days. It makes sense though for Sakura to slow things down and overpower Suruga with her chops and backbreakers rather than taking her on in her own speed game though. Suruga got the flash pin to became the 6th Super Asia Champion, ending Sakura's reign at 423 days. This is the sort of passing of the guard you rarely see in Japan, where the previous generations just hang on interminably. It actually gives Mei a chance to lead the promotion, rather than the usual backdoor method where they'd have a foreigner beat Emi so Mei could beat the foreigner and never be seen to exceed her elders. ***

2/22/25 ChocoPro: Chie Koishikawa & Miya Yotsuba vs. Mei Suruga & Sayaka Obihiro 13:45
ML: Most current wrestlers don't seem to be taught fundamentals or to do anything that attempts to make it look like a real fight. Under these circumstances, you can wind up with a wrestler like Suruga who is impressive when the pace is fast because she's relying on her quickness and athleticism to somewhat mask the obvious cooperation, but unimpressive when it's slow because then the lack of impact, conviction, and technical precision can become more obvious (she did throw one really good elbow here, and has generally been putting more oomph on things than in the last few matches I saw, depending on how seriously she's taking them). She can do one kind of match well, and this was that sort of mad scramble sprint where she stands out. One of the problems is she doesn't do this style often, normally clowning early. Granted, this isn't what I'd focus on teaching inexperienced wrestlers (Obihiro has been wrestling 15 years since she goes back to Emi Sakura's days with Ice Ribbon, but the others are in their mid 20s), but it was certainly energetic, with enough pace and flash to get noticed. It felt more organic and less practiced than a lot of the STARDOM chaos. This may not be a Zenjo classic, but it's at the high pace that used to distinguish women's wrestling before they started trying to imitate the slow, overdramatic wannabe epics the men do. There's a lot of good flash pin attempts here, particularly by Mei, and counters to them. Chie wound up pinning Suruga in one to set up their title match on 3/31/25. This was fun, and largely well executed despite the extremely high pace. Baliyan Akki is a pretty good wrestler, but too consistently over the top as an announcer. He can be okay when he keeps things in moderation, but gave the single most earache inducing announcer performance I've ever heard here, just endlessly screaming sound effects such as "aaaaahhhhh", "ooooohhhhhh", and "ooohhhaaahhh" at the top of his lungs, even for the most pedestrian offense such as a body slam. If he did it once or twice at the right time, it would have been fine, and perhaps actually helped the match seem more dramatic. When he did try to use actual words, he rarely managed a sentence, and even then, it was asking, "what is happening?" I had been under the impression that actually knowing was part of the job description. ***

3/31/25 ChocoPro Super Asia Title: Mei Suruga vs. Chie Koishikawa 10:40
ML: This was better than I was expecting, especially since Koishikawa slowed the early portion down quite a bit with her knee attack. They wisely kept it short though still, and the mix of Koishikawa being more solid and Suruga being more flashy turned out to be a fairly effective one that played to what each performer can do. Though Mei is actually Chie's trainer, along with Emi Sakura, despite being a year younger, this was carried by Chie. While she still didn't beat Mei in singles, her defeat felt less of a foregone conclusion, with Mei's flash pins allowing her to more truly escape with the victory, rather than just replacing flying moves in her arsenal of fast athletic stuff as they normally do. Chie tried to instill her pace from the outset. The problem is Mei's openings are rarely serious, and rather than it feeling like she was working to impose her fast-paced style, it just felt like she was goofing around, which also lowered the stakes. Her rope hanging being sloppy in addition to the usual completely contrived and cooperative nature of it didn't help either. Things didn't improve with Chie initiating her knee attack through a clumsy stretch muffler in the ropes, or Chie jumping off the apron and both missing with double chops. Chie got going slamming Mei's knee into the post, and from here there was a lot of knee focus, though this contains perhaps the most pitiful supposed kneebar I've ever seen. Mei came back with a diving footstomp to the arm, and started cosplaying at being Zack Sabre Jr. After this, the pace picked up considerably, and as per usual with Mei, the speed made her focus more on what she was doing and helped mask the potential imperfections with the execution, as well as allowing Mei to impress with her quick and agile gymnastics. The intensity picked up considerably in the 2nd half, and even when Chie wents back to the leg work, there was a much greater sense that Mei was actually fighting her off. The knee and arm focus was there, but they lacked the variety to properly support it. They were wrestling with conviction and determination now though, and you could believe Chie could get a submission or get countered into a flash pin. That's ultimately what happened after one too many stretch muffler attempts by Chie. The speed of the flash pin sequences, particularly the finish, was impressive. I just wish there was more precision to the regular and slower speed stuff that should be easier to do properly. This match might not totally get there, but there was at least a lot to work with, and it just needs a little tightening up. **3/4

2/8/25 MLW: KUSHIDA vs. Neon 10:32
ML: This was the best KUSHIDA match I've seen in a while. He's basically the only New Japan guy that's over 40 who isnt very broken down, but that's partially because he shifted to focusing on doing a style that is sustainable. That tends to result in his matches being average to pretty good, but rarely much better, as he does what he does well, but rarely slacks off or goes the extra mile. This was essentially his MLW debut (he wrestled one match in 2023 but now he's signed with the promotion) and Neon's 2nd match there, so both were trying a little harder to get over. Neon is 26, but 2024 was his first 100 plus match year, and he's beginning to come into his own. They had good chemistry, and KUSHIDA's submission style kept it from purely being a gymnastics exhibition, while Neon still did enough flying to keep it interesting. Neon took the mat wrestling seriously, and while this was reasonably more Lucha Libre oriented technical wrestling then U-Style, the fluid nature of the matwork worked well with the flash pins and submission counters they were incorporating. KUSHIDA definitely tailored his game as much has he reasonably could to Neon's to help make him look good and get him over in the loss, and Neon was definitely more impressive than in his debut vs. Virus. There was a nice spot on the outside mixing both styles where KUSHIDA turned the cazadora into an arm bar. KUSHIDA controled the 1st half, winning the technical wrestling, but Neon came back with a double springboard moonsault to the outside and the pace picked up from there with some good counters back and forth. They did a nice job of selling the near finishes, which came off better because they had already established actual ground wrestling earlier. Neon tried a superstar elbow, but again KUSHIDA countered into an arm bar. They weren't going for an all-timer, but they built this up pretty well rather than simply showing off, and were able to do an effective enough match that the audience got behind. ***

4/6/25 AEW International Title: Kenny Omega vs. Mike Bailey vs. Ricochet 30:56
ML: A fun popcorn match that was nonetheless difficult to get invested in. The match never dragged despite being over half an hour, but never felt like anything out of the ordinary either. It was the best match of the PPV by far, but only because the rest of the show was so uneventful. Omega and Bailey are the two best wrestlers in AEW with Danielson gone, and would undoubtedly have an excellent match on their own. That's what this match should be building to instead of Bailey vs. Ricochet and Omega having to give 200% to try to pull something out of the disinterested broken dwon robot Okada. In any case, the 3 way format is just so contrived, on top of Ricochet being so contrived. I can't say Ricochet was the issue here though. He's always relatively slow, and may have the most pitiful strikes in major league men's wrestling, but unlike the vastly overrated 3 way with Takeshita and Ospreay, he was blending into the general nature of this match well enough. In fact, this was the best he's looked since his initial handful of performances in AEW where he was motivated. Bailey is the most spectacular of the bunch, and the best striker by a mile. He was an easy standout, though it was the same great stuff he normally does. Omega wasn't able to tell a story here, so he was just another dude doing spots, which isn't his best utilization at this stage of his career. They eventually pretended Bailey injured his left knee. I don't think slowing down the best mover helped the match. It just gave him an excuse for losing in AEW already when Omega pinned Ricochet with an avalanche one winged angel. This match was really long, so it took a while to get going, but after Bailey hit the triangle moonsault to kick off the big dive sequence, it picked up considerably. Bailey was by far the most creative here. They did some cool spots, but the structuring of these matches with one guy hiding then making the save keeps them from ever feeling believable or dramatic. This is worth watching, but nowhere near a top 100 match for any of the 3 guys involved. ***

6/11/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa 15:54
PA: Yamada worked over Sakie’s bad leg and potatoed her with kicks. She was gushing from the nose, and it can’t have felt good, but it really added to her comeback. Picked up in the final third with a good comeback and turned into the dramatic final portion. Sakie’s best trait is her fire, and she had plenty of that here. She scored the upset with a flash pin to claim the biggest win of her career. ***1/2

6/11/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto vs. Yasha Kurenai 2:17
PA: Greatest ‘anything’ of all time is usually a big statement, but I have no hesitation in calling this the greatest squash match of all time. Everyone came out of it better off, it furthered the Hokuto vs. LLPW angle, and it was just funny and entertaining. Let’s put this into the proper context. This was supposed to be the JGP match between Hokuto vs. Harley Saito, but Harley was injured and was unable to compete (their match was postponed to 8/5). So, it was Hokuto vs. “X”, with someone from LLPW replacing Harley. Hokuto thought the president herself, Rumi Kazama, should step up and fight, but little unknown Yasha Kurenai walked out, a low ranked heel who none of the Zenjo fans had even heard of. The crowd were not impressed by this, but it was the biggest moment of Yasha’s career. She let everyone know who she was and proclaimed she was here to take over the world, then she spat in Hokuto’s face. Hokuto’s too cool to react to that, but everyone knew what was going to happen. Hokuto slaughters people she likes, much less some scrub from another company who just spat in her face. Yasha had to die. Match started, Hokuto mocked her pose, Yasha jumped on her and went to town on her leg with a shinai and hit all of her offense. Hokuto ate all of it, got the knees up on a diving body press, tossed away the shinai but she didn’t need it, and then finished immediately with a Northern Light’s bomb. Hokuto spoke afterwards and gave her credit for coming out alone. She didn’t get a chance to introduce herself, so she let Yasha know who she is and gave her some respect. The idea was that Hokuto was going to squash some unknown and make a name out of them in the process, get herself over and further the angle with Kazama. It all worked, and probably better than anyone thought it would. It made Yasha, and it’s probably Hokuto’s most famous match at this point because the video went viral in Japan at some point in the last 15 years, and now way more people know about it than the Kandori match.

6/11/93 AJW: Yumiko Hotta, Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong, Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga 25:29
PA: Well executed all action match to end the show, typical of Zenjo. It had more of a hard hitting flavour with four bruisers being in there. Toyota threw in her spots and took some big bumps. Takako was the odd one out, but she did what she could to fit in. Everyone was good here. Toyota and Takako took most of the beatings., Toyota spazzed out at one point, potatoing Bull a few times, so she received some brutal receipts. ***3/4

1/1/25 NOAH: KENTA vs. Keno 15:24
ML: There's only 3 years difference between their ages. but Keno started almost a decade later, so he's from the next generation of wrestlers. In many ways, he's the successor to KENTA, doing an intense, aggressive junior heavyweight striking style. It's a natural matchup and rivalry where Keno has been striving for KENTA's respect and approval, but with KENTA being in WWE and NJPW much of the last decade, it's actually only their 2nd singles match, with KENTA beating Keno at Keno's 6th Anniversary show on 3/2/14. Keno has a lot less mileage and a lot more left in the tank, but due to Keno's urging and prodding, KENTA did his best to step up here, and gave one of his more useful performances in recent times. These two really laid into one another, as you'd expect, with some of the most brutal slaps you'll ever see. It felt a lot more like a fight than the usual cooperative exchanges between stalling we normally get today. KENTA begrudgingly shook hands with Keno before the match, but Keno refused to give him a clean break on the ropes despite Kenta requesting it twice. Keno hurt his ankle missing a diving foot stomp to the floor, and took a powerslam on the outside for his trouble. KENTA didn't do a lot of ankle work, but he was able to stay on the ascendancy much of the fight by getting on a roll here with his own offense, and keeping Keno largely in the role of struggling to play even. Since KENTA was switching from New Japan back to NOAH, theoretically at the urging of Keno, it made some sense for him to win, but the match was wrestled as a match where Keno was finally going to turn the tables, and that just never happened. This was a good length for what they were doing, and they were able to maintain their passion and fire while keeping it consistently hard-hitting, without some of the most brutal slaps you'll find, without things just becoming redundant. The ending was definitely a letdown though. This didn't necessarily need 5 more minutes for Keno to get over the hump, but he needed to get going at some point, as he kind of looked bad by ultimately doing this little. ***1/4

3/29/25 UFC: Brandon Moreno vs. Steve Erceg 5R

4/11/93 AJW: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) 18:05
PA: Another hot opening match involving these two. Hasegawa was much improved here compared to the Yokohama show since she was willing to work with Fukuoka. The match was long, and given all the pointless matwork in the first half, it could have stood to have been a few minutes shorter. Once they got into the second half, it was a fiery back and forth battle with the two throwing everything they had at each other, and similar to the quality of the 4/2 tag match. They did a great job with the near falls, kicking out of them late, albeit a little too late in once instance. It would have been nice if Sakie knew a few more moves, with three Rolling Savate Kicks and three Exploders, before putting Hikari away with a fourth Rolling Savate Kick. They had a rematch on 5/30 in JWP, which Sakie won as well, surprisingly. It wasn’t a good match though, nowhere near the level of this one. ***1/2

4/11/93 AJW: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW) 17:53
PA: A much better performance from Combat and Kudo here than in the first DREAM SLAM main event. They had good opponents in Mita and Shimoda, who were hungry and out to make a name for themselves. They did a much better job of leading things with a match length (10 minutes shorter) that was more suited to them. Combat was still the lesser of the four in the match, but significantly better here than the dismal performance she gave was against Toyota and Yamada. Her offense was way better, and she worked well with her opponents. The dynamic between the teams worked really well. Mita and Shimoda brought a lot of intensity, while the more experienced Combat and Kudo would shut them down and look to dictate a slower pace. Shimoda and Mita got some bursts and double teams, but they’d get overwhelmed by Combat’s power and Kudo’s experience. Around 12 minutes in Mita and Shimoda got their big comeback, and looked to put Combat away with double team moves in the ring. The FMW team came back and destroyed LCO outside, with Combat powerbombing Shimoda on the floor, and Kudo giving a Mita a tiger driver on the announce table. The finishing run was great with LCO trying to fight back from there. Kudo and Combat hit a brutal looking doomsday device, and Mita managed to save the match. They even got into a position to try double teaming Kudo, but she thwarted that, and once Combat got rid of Mita, Shimoda fell victim to a powerbomb/inverted DDT double team, and then Combat folded her up in a powerbomb to win. ***1/2

4/11/93 AJW: Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Cuty Suzuki, Plum Mariko & Bolshoi Kid (JWP) 21:28
PA: A quality, fun, action packed match. Kyoko was the standout here, more because of her exuberance than her work itself, though her work was the best. She did the comedy sequence with Bolshoi at the start, and it was a lot of fun. Takako was good, taking her pleasure in torturing Cuty, though she was best with Plum here. Hotta was just there to be Hotta. She didn’t much other than punt the clown and everyone else. Her big spots at the end moved the finish along well enough. The smaller JWP team had their moments, but more as a collective, they needed to use their teamwork, double and triple teaming their opponents. There was a lot of Bolshoi, and Plum and Cuty spent a lot of time helping her out or getting bumped around by Hotta. Plum looked great when she was trying to tear up Takako’s knee. Kyoko aimed for the 40-revolution Giant Swing, this time on Bolshoi, but she came up short again (this time in the low 30s). They did a big train of dives at around the 10-minute mark, with Hotta even doing a tope. Kyoko took the footstomp train towards the end, playing off the DREAM SLAM spot, but this time she survived it easier. In the end, Bolshoi was way out of her league and found herself outmatched, getting destroyed with Kyoko securing the victory after a great Helicopter Slam. ****

4/11/93 AJW: Suzuka Minami vs. Harley Saito (LLPW) 13:31
PA: These two wrestlers were arguably the most underrated on the scene at this point. The Zenjo crowd never really embraced Harley, and Minami was relatively low on the totem pole, thus they saw it as only a midcard battle, and following the six-woman tag may not have helped them. Regardless, they delivered an excellent, hard-fought match, and both looked great. They executed and sold well throughout. They kept things moving along, staying busy in the slower portion, and built it nicely into the big spots and a good finish. They both stuck to what they do best, Minami working the back and hitting her brutal backbreakers, Harley hitting her suplexes and firing off her kicks. The finish saw Harley hit her Tiger Suplex and get a near fall, but she missed a diving headbutt. Minami hit back with a powerbomb and hit her diving senton to get the three count. ****

4/11/93 AJW: Memorial Superfight: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bull Nakano 15:08
PA: They got off to a great start, exchanging blows, a missed tope from Chigusa and a quality beating outside from Bull. Then the bulk of the match was largely long stretching and submission segments from Bull. Chigusa made some comebacks in between, she did a fighting spirit spot and both exchanged a sharpshooter. Chigusa’s selling and reactions were better here than was against Devil, especially in the latter portion, but she was still underwhelming. She blew a few things, and Bull either covered her or went along. Bull gave a really solid performance, but a pretty stoic one, so it wasn’t as fun as Devil’s. Chigusa demanded that Bull perform her guillotine legdrop to prove she was tough enough to endure it, and it would have been a classic if that had ended the match. Chigusa executed a couple of suplexes afterward, and disarmed Bull of her nunchakus by kicking them out of her hand. However, Bull hit a German Suplex, and finished with a powerbomb and a second Guillotine Legdrop. ***

4/11/93 AJW: Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai (LLPW) 20:43
PA: All the tension and hatred was on display here with Hokuto and Kandori from the start. Even before the bell rang, they were ready to spill blood, but Aja and Eagle held them back. Kandori upset Aja during this as well. When Hokuto and Kandori clashed, Hokuto relied on her speed and tried to apply submissions, which included an early insulting one, using Kandori’s spinning sleeper on her. She’d still get caught though, and within about 5 minutes, her cut was reopened. Aja made a difference, intervening to save Hokuto, and when the time came, she wanted to show up Kandori as well. There was a moment where she applied a crab hold on Eagle and defiantly shrugged off all of Kandori’s attempts to break it. Aja's performance was notably improved here compared to the first DREAM SLAM. Not everything worked, a headbutt contest with Kandori was a bit lame, and her flubbed tope that Kandori avoided didn’t quite go to plan, but she was able to come across as near-invincible and cocky while making her opponents look good, rather than cartoonishly invulnerable. Eagle didn’t really have a role beyond being Kandori’s underling and doing a few ‘fat guy spots’ with Aja at the start. She wasn’t bad, but having someone who could’ve bumped around or sold more, like Harley, would have been a better contribution. There were plenty of highlights late in the match. Hokuto took a spike powerbomb on the floor, which saw Aja have to survive a couple of minutes alone. Hokuto stormed back into action with a missile dropkick on Kandori when she was about to apply a sleeper hold to Aja. Kandori continued looking to press Hokuto, but Aja, again, made the difference blindsiding her with a uraken. Aja also took down Eagle with strikes, a powerslam from the top, and superplexed Hokuto onto her. Eagle fired back with her own, and Kandori followed up with two more, with Aja making a dramatic save. Kandori hit a Tiger Driver and Hokuto kicked out. Kandori geared up for a lariat and got caught in a wakigatame, Kandori made the ropes, and then reversed it. Aja managed to save Hokuto twice before Eagle restrained her outside the ring. Kandori turned Hokuto’s Dragon Suplex into another wakigatame, and this time she couldn’t be saved. Hokuto refused the submit, but the referee pulled Kandori off and called off the match. Kandori added further insult by not even paying attention to Hoktuo while she was injuring her arm, focusing all of her attention on Aja. An excellent match and postscript to Yokohama. Kandori got some revenge and Hokuto once again had something to prove. The match did the most effective job of building Aja vs. Kandori though, and a lot of the heat shifted in that direction in the second half, and into the post-match, but it never happened (I’d assume the Mastunaga’s wanted it for Budokan in August or one of the other big shows, but they couldn’t convince LLPW to get Kandori to job twice). ***3/4

4/11/93 AJW: 2/3 Falls, WWWA World Tag Title Match: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP) 0:12, 14:55, 16:04
PA: The second match in the famous trilogy, and the crowd were quite supporting of the JWP underdogs from the start. The start of this was legendary. Ozaki shared a tense stare with Toyota, clearly remembering their previous encounter. Those two went at it, but Kansai wasted no time and delivered a devastating kick to Yamada’s head, followed swiftly by Splash Mountain, securing the first fall in just 12 seconds. The crowd lost their minds, It was the last thing they expected, and all Toyota could do was scream about it. Yamada’s selling helped too, normally a quick fall like this would see the recipient pop up as if it was lucky she had been caught, but Yamada sold it like the knock-out blow that it was. If the crowd weren’t already on team JWP, they sure were now. In fact, it wasn’t long before the Zenjo team were booed. Yamada quickly tagged out to Toyota, who came in spamming her dropkicks, and after missing a moonsault, Yamada interfered to keep the advantage and the crowd turned on them for the time being. Toyota didn’t add anything good, and she had the same ridiculous costume from the first DREAM SLAM, dropping feathers left and right (thankfully it would never be seen again). She gave Yamada enough of a rest to recover properly though. Kansai had delivered a camel clutch punt to Toyota earlier, so they got revenge for it on Ozaki. Kansai and Yamada had another great exchange, similar to what they had done at Dream Rush. Yamada’s kicks were ferocious, and she upped her intensity to match Kansai, but was also able to use her agility, which was the one advantage she had over her. Later, when Yamada was working a stretch muffler on Ozaki, Kansai ran in and got some revenge by punting Yamada a few times to break it. The fall kicked up a gear after Ozaki avoided a corner lariat from Toyota with Kansai charging in with her own. Ozaki backdrop suplexed Yamada, leading to dives on the outside. Ozaki and Kansai attempted to finish off Toyota with a double flying headbutt. They followed that with an incredible sequence where Ozaki was perched on the top turnbuckle and Toyota dropkicked her down, immediately following with a quebrada while Yamada returned to blindside Kansai with a kick. They should have just gone home there because the rest of fall couldn’t live up to this, even if it was still good enough to keep you guessing. Toyota and Yamada tried to dump Ozaki with a double-team sidebuster, but Ozaki didn't go around all the way, and ended up on her head. Kansai intervened to help her hit a German suplex on Toyota. From there it was a back and forth to the finish. There was a good Splash Mountain tease when Kansai ducked a Toyota’s charge and Ozaki held her back, but Yamada fought out of the attempt to hit a German Suplex. Toyota returned to tag in and assist Yamada with a double powerbomb on Kansai for a near fall (no idea what even happened to Ozaki as the camera never showed her again, I assume Toyota knocked her off the apron but they never showed it), then Toyota finished the fall with her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. The third fall started great with Toyota looking for a quick finish with a German Suplex on Kansai before she regained her bearings. That didn’t work, so Yamada came in with a bunch of kicks and an elbow smash with Ozaki interrupting the pin. Yamada worked over Kansai with a stretch muffler and then Toyota rushed in doing her missile dropkick routine, which didn’t fit what Yamada had set up at all. It was the problem with Toyota throughout though. In the first fall, it was her weird stretching, in the third fall, she just came in doing high spots with no regard for anything that was going on in the match. Thankfully, Ozaki cut her off and gave her a thrashing on the outside, while Kansai got a breather and did the same to Yamada. This was the fall for Kansai and Ozaki to shine, and they did. Kansai asserted her dominance and was the real game-changer. Ozaki was the resilient underdog, clutching onto submissions and hanging on, showing fight and getting big near falls, but also being the most likely one to take the loss. Ozaki received the double backdrop and the straightjacket German suplex from Toyota, the same sequence that spelled her end at Dream Rush, but Kansai frantically broke up it up this time. Yamada held Kansai outside, and she could only watch Ozaki as Toyota tried to finish her off, but Ozaki refused to be denied, kicking out of the Japanese Ocean Suplex. Kansai was able to help afterward, clobbering both Toyota and Yamada, and after a Doomsday Device, and a Doomsday Splash Mountain, Ozaki got the pin to a monster pop. Overall, this was a great match, with an exceptional beginning and an equally impressive ending. It leaned more towards the traditional Zenjo big match format, focusing more on delivering thrilling near falls at the expense of the more clever ideas present in their initial encounter. JWP had taken the WWWA Tag Team belts, and the post-match was an all-time great scene, as Ozaki crawled on her knees to Kansai and fell into a big hug with Cuty, Masami and Plum right there. If the first match put JWP on the map, this match legitimatized them, and with the tag team mountain climbed, their next challenge was for the dominant Kansai, to test herself against Aja Kong. ****3/4

4/18/1993 JWP: Devil Masami vs. Bull Nakano 37:36
PA: A natural match after these two had both defeated Chigusa Nagayo in previous weeks. This was dubbed as a “Super Heavyweight Fight”, and it was a unique, slow-paced struggle. They stretched each other, hit each other hard, took big bumps, milked everything and delivered something no one except for these two could have pulled off. The used plenty of weardown holds and sold them as weardowns. They didn’t oversell, but sold them until they were drained. The facial expressions were great, with Bull looking utter misery, while Devil took pleasure in working her over. Devil sold like crazy too when Bull had the upperhand. They hit the odd spot, but the earliest big run saw Devil execute a brutal powerbomb on Bull outside and footstomp off the apron. Bull took further punishment from the powerbomb and a superplex, and when she tried to comeback, Devil hit a German suplex and a missile dropkick. Bull took a breather to regroup, and resorted to her nunchakus, which led to the famous spot this match is known for, where Devil demanded to be hit by them. Bull obliged, and followed with a moonsault, but Devil bridged out of the pin. Bull worked some nasty leg submissions and won a chair battle outside. They hit guillotine legdrops and powerbombs to each other for dramatic near falls amongst topes, planchas, suplexes and lariats in the final third. Devil controlled a lot of it, but Bull outlasted her. Devil tried a final superplex and Bull reversed it, following up with a second guillotine legdrop for a near fall. Devil stirred, but she couldn’t get up, and Bull delivered the somersault version to win. Sure, this match could have lost 10 minutes quite easily, but it was 37-minute match that flew by because it was paced out so well, always kept escalating and rarely dragged. ****1/2

4/24/1993 AJW: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta 17:41 of 18:35
PA: Aja did a great job of guiding the match, with the spotlight squarely on Toyota as the hometown hero. Aja spent most of the match punishing Toyota, setting up her comebacks, which the crowd popped huge for. Kyoko was mainly there to take Toyota’s real comebacks, and do athletic spots with her. Built well into a good finishing sequence, which saw a good run of near falls with Toyota winning with the Japanese Ocean Suplex. ****

5/3/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Etsuko Mita vs. Harley Saito 19:38
PA: There were two outsiders in the Japan Grand Prix. Hikari Fukuoka was representing JWP, and had a pretty lousy match with Kaoru Ito where they spent 3/4 of their 24 minutes in crabs and chinlocks. Harley represented LLPW, and had a much better match here with Mita. Mita was fun with the heeling, and Harley’s armwork was good. Later, they worked the legs, and worked it well enough that a long figure four spot drew people into the reversals. They went all out with lots of near falls at the end. Harley won with a Tiger Suplex, so Mita slapped her afterward. ***1/2

5/3/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada 17:55
PA: Yamada targeted Hokuto’s injured shoulder, zeroing in on it with kicks and holds. Hokuto had to get it retaped and gutted through. Yamada had the best of it early, but Hokuto came back, and worked her over in response. They fought over their holds and struggled, and the faster paced transitions were intense and well done. This was a smaller house show, so they didn’t do as much as they would on a big show, but it didn’t feel that way since most of the bumps they took were meaningful. They worked a hot finish where they slipped out of each other finishers before Hokuto finally hit the Northern Light’s Bomb. After the match, she gave Yamada a slap and earned a lariat for it. ***3/4

5/5/93 FMW: Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota 22:17
PA: FMW needing to get their win back gave these two teams a chance to have the match they were capable of. They got things going with a hot brawl outside, and then the FMW team controlled the early portion again, but this time it flowed and built well, they didn’t get bogged down sitting around in holds forever. Yamada and Toyota weren’t so blunted, and were able to stand out more with their hot comebacks with better timing. The final portion was just about as good as they di’d in April. Kudo took a ton of big moves from Toyota at the end and survived or was saved. Combat turned the tide for her, and they did a brutal Doomsday Device, which should have been the finish as the sloppy powerbomb and a Tiger Suplex that followed weren’t so impressive. This might have been a bit sloppier than their first match, but it was such a major improvement in all other regards that it’s hard to be critical of that. Combat and Kudo were significantly better, and none of the issues that plagued that match were present here. ****1/4

5/8/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Suzuka Minami vs. Etsuko Mita 19:38
PA: These two had a good match on the 4/24 TV show which was clipped to 10 minutes. Minami won that won with a diving senton. Mita didn’t fall victim to it this time, and got a win back here in the JGP with her Death Valley Bomb. The wrestling was solid, nothing spectacular, but it was an interesting and well worked veteran vs. junior type of match. Minami dominated Mita for most of it, working the leg early, which wasn’t anything special, but Mita sold really well for her. Mita would try to cheat but get shut down there, but it ended up being the high risk moves that cost her. ***1/2

5/8/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Takako Inoue vs. Harley Saito 30:00
PA: A great, dramatic match, and one of the best matches either ever had. The first 10 minutes were there, but it was an injury to Harley where it really kicked off. Takako did a double arm-suplex from the top which seemed to legitimately injure Harley’s rib. After an armdrag, she looked to be in horrible pain, and bailed out to get some attention. They put a brace put on her, and she continued on with Takako ruthlessly going after her. The injury made it that even a body scissors had drama. Later, she dragged her outside to beat on her with chair. When Harley tried to return to the ring, Takako stomped her ribs and stood on her fingers. Harley made a really hot comeback even if the crowd were all about Takako. She hit a leg lariat and a German suplex, then did some damage to Takako’s arm with a wakigatame. Takako sold the arm enough that both were wounded going into their final portion. Harley kicked the hell out of her and had the momentum, Takako stalled her with a backdrop suplex, but Harley reversed the Aurora Special, and hit a springboard dive and suplex on the outside. Takako came back in the ring with a German Suplex and her Aurora Special. The last few minutes were incredible, dramatic and frantic with the crowd eating up every near fall. Takako went to the top and got superplexed down, with Harley following up with a flying headbutt and a Tiger Suplex. Takako hit back with a German suplex and put Harley on the top turnbuckle, hitting her chokeslam. Harley refused to be beaten, and Takako got more urgent, quickly trying to put her away with a backdrop suplex, but her frustration led to Harley hitting a bunch of suplexes but the time expired on them. This was a crazy performance from Harley as everything she did had to have really hurt like hell. Had there not been an injury this might not have been special. The way Takako took it to Harley put it another level, and made her comebacks all the more impressive. ****1/2

5/8/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota 21:51
PA: Yamada and Hokuto gave Toyota some good abuse, with Yamada throwing her kicks and plenty of nasty stretching from the pair. Hotta and Yamada kicked the crap out of each other, and had the best exchanges. Yamada did most of the work for her team, and was standout in the match, while Hokuto took more a backseat. Toyota didn’t have a bad day on spots despite blowing her first high spot of the match. She was particularly excellent in the last few minutes when she rolled out her spots in style. It ended up being a bit of a route, as Hokuto was incapacitated, and Yamada was easily finished off with a Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex from Toyota. Hokuto did an angle with Rumi Kazama and LLPW after the match. ***3/4

5/11/93 LLPW: Miki Handa vs. Mima Shimoda 13:03 of 19:22
PA: Good, action packed interpromotional match. It had plenty of heat and both were urgent and hungry. They both seemed to be trying to prove they were better than they were being featured at. They had the intensity, they were pulling hair, biting their legs, brawling and dumping each other with suplexes. It got better and more heated as it went along, though it was brought down a little with some sloppiness and miscommunication. ***1/2

5/11/93 LLPW: Suzuka Minami & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazama & Yukari Osawa 17:36 of 21:15
PA: If this match was going to be even decent, you’d have thought it would have required Minami to carry it and do more most the work, but no, she was good, but this was BATOMANIA! Bat turned into the karate Aja Kong for a day. She was the wrecking ball. Sshe showed more charisma than anyone knew she had, and delivered the most incredible performance of her career with the entire crowd chanting her name because she was such a badass. Minami worked a solid match, cracking backs and working the more athletic sequences, setting things up for Bat, who’d come and deliver her kicks, and tank as much abuse as she could when she was on the receiving end. It helped that Kazama had a good day as well, performing above her usual level. This time her kicking battle with Kazama was actually good where it hadn’t gone anywhere on 4/11. Osawa wasn’t great, but she was adequate enough. Bat threw all kinds of kicks to Osawa and put her in a crab, which Kazama came in to break up with her kicks, but Bat just looked at her with disdain and refused to break the hold, which had the crowd chanting for her. The next time she was in, she did the same when Osawa tried to break it up, although this time Bat broke the hold so she could kick back. The moment that made the whole match was when Osawa had a crab on Minami, and Bat sauntered in and broke it with one kick. The match built into the more typical joshi big finish. The LLPW team got on a roll and seemed to have things in the bag, but Bat was the gamechanger there as well, hitting her big rolling kicks to Kazama, and taking out Osawa with one, while Minami finished off Kazama powerbombs and her diving senton. Hokuto was in the crowd for this and started more shit with LLPW afterwards. They were building the 6/15 interpromotional card from Ota Ward Gymnasium, though Hokuto refused to wrestle on it herself. The matches we would get were Eagle Sawai & Leo Kitamura vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue and Shinobu Kandori, Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa vs. Suzuka Minami, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. The latter was the better of the two as you’d expect, but they chopped it up with almost half of it missing on the comm tape. ****1/4

5/30/93 JWP: Devil Masami, Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai, Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu 27:41
PA: This was about 20 minutes of excellent stuff, plenty of good action and Ozaki wearing a hot pink outfit for something different. Some funny spots and good heat segment on Candy, with Plum getting the revenge spots later. Devil and Ozaki were the best here, with some good stuff from Kansai. It’s JWP though, so we had to have too much of a good thing, and after 20 minutes it started dragging. It was nice that Plum actually got to win with a submission for a change, submitting Candy with an STF, though it would have been better if they’d give her wins with her kneebar every now and then since it looks so much more devastating and was a more over move. ***1/2

6/3/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Suzuka Minami 17:58
PA: This was the second match on the card, as they omitted Etsuko Mita vs. Mima Shimoda, which went on first. This was a pretty solid match most of the way, they worked over each other legs, with Minami getting the worst of it, but she came back by roughing Yamada up outside, and worked her back over inside. Somewhat mundane, but solid and well-executed. It got really good in the last third. Yamada won with her Reverse Gory Bomb, and also managed to extract one of Minami’s teeth. ***1/4

6/3/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano 16:20
PA: Bull and Kyoko worked the majority of this and were really good, even if not giving their maximum effort. Kyoko was on the receiving end of it for the first six minutes, getting worked over by Bull with Aja following up. She got her offense in on Bull later on. Hokuto made a minimal contribution, but she was good when she was in. She could go with Aja, and got the best of Bull, which had Bull using the nunchakus, prompting Hokuto to take revenge with her bokken later. Outside of that, she assisted Kyoko from the outside, turning the table so she could hit her offense on Bull, but Aja also assisted Bull. The monsters showed better teamwork though, and that’s what ended up getting them the win. ***1/2

6/3/93 AJW 2/3 Falls, WWWA World Tag Title Match: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 60:00 (16:56, 18:11, 24:13)
PA: Team JWP’s first defense of the tag belts, and a rematch on the 1/15 classic. This was paced out for 60 minutes so it was slow with lots of holds, but it built up well and there was plenty of attitude on display, which kept it entertaining. Takako and Ozaki played the little sister roles, getting worked over. Hotta and Kansai dominated and punted them around while those two would pick up the bones. Ozaki ended up getting the worst of it in the first fall, and despite them not doing a lot, it was interesting watching everyone trying to one-up each other. Kansai rushed in when she couldn’t stand it anymore, taking matters into her own hands and escalated things. She proved April was no fluke, pinning Hotta with a Splash Mountain. The second fall saw Hotta and Kansai take a turn getting worked over before Takako found herself in Ozaki’s role in the first fall. Kansai got the best of Takako. They did an interesting spot where Hotta ran in and kicked her in the face to save Takako, but Kansai held onto her and recovered to regain control. Takako got worked over, usually by Kansai with Ozaki mugging her on the outside and stomping on her hand. Hotta was able to thwart a double team from the apron to get the tag in and cleaned house, punting Kansai and hitting a Tiger Driver, which didn’t finish, but after miscommunication from Ozaki and Takako successfully assisting with a double team, she put her away with a Pyramid Driver. Takako’s ribs were injured so she got them braced up between the second and third fall. Ozaki removed the brace and used it as a weapon against Takako, followed by Kansai unleashing her kicks. Takako came back on Ozaki and hot tagged Hotta, who kicked Ozaki around in response, but Hotta potatoed her with a head shot and legitimately concussed her. Kansai had to come in to improvise while Ozaki tried to remember where she was (this was the beginning of Hotta run of concussing the JWP girls, where she concussed Ozaki, Hikari and Plum over the course of June and July). Kansai did a great job of frantically trying to protect Ozaki, while Ozaki continued trying to fight. Hotta kept kicking her down and Ozaki would fire back. The match was off the rails and the roles essentially reversed out of necessity, but what was working for it was that it was so dramatic. A concussed Ozaki seems to bring about great performances (she gave an all time great performance at Dream Rush after being concussed within the first minute of the match as well). She struggled through a crowd brawl with Takako, while Hotta and Kansai went at it. In the ring, it wasn’t pretty. Ozaki couldn’t do everything, she did her spots as well as you could expect, but it was sloppy and everyone could see she had nothing left but was refusing to die. By the end, Kansai and Ozaki were looking to put Takako away, but were unable to do it and the time ran out. This wasn’t a classic, but it was consistently good throughout with a great twist and drama in the final fall. ****